GamePop console offers Netflix-style subscription for mobile games on the TV

Curated selection of 500 Android titles available for $6.99 a month this winter.

Following the success of Kickstarter projects like Ouya and Gamestick, yet another company is trying to bring mobile gaming to the living room TV. BlueStacks is hoping to set its GamePop console apart with a subscription-based all-you-can-play model covering a curated selection of 500 titles.

BlueStacks began taking preorders for the new console today ahead of a planned winter launch, but it isn't actually selling the hardware yet. Instead, users who commit to a year's subscription at $6.99 a month will get the console and controller for free. After the preorder period expires this month, users will have to actually pay for the hardware, which BlueStacks Senior VP of Marketing John Gargiulo told Ars Technica will cost around $100.

That subscription will get users Netflix-style all-you-can-play access to the full versions of 500 mobile games curated by the BlueStacks team. A full list of available titles isn't available yet, but BlueStacks is highlighting partnerships with companies like Fruit Ninja and Jetpack Joyride developers Halfbrick, Gun Bros. maker Glu Mobile, Trials Extreme maker Deemedya, and Talking Tom developer Outfit7, with more partner announcements to come.

"We think content is most important," Gargiulo said. "Think about Windows 8 or Blackberry: cool UI, great tech, but if there are no apps, there are no games, people don't want to use it. We're really focused on getting the best content."

This isn't BlueStacks' first attempt to bring mobile games to non-mobile hardware: the BlueStacks app lets users run 750,000 mobile apps on their Mac or PC and has attracted over 5 million downloads so far. But for GamePop, Gargiulo says BlueStacks is focusing on a more targeted list of universally popular games rather than glutting the platform with a large selection of shovelware. Unpopular games will routinely cycle out of availability in favor of new ones, Gargiulo said.

"There are other competitors in the space that have announced thousands of apps... we're not into that. We really feel like the launch titles need to be quality for people to want to buy it," said Gargiulo. "If you think about it, on Google Play, if you find 500 games you'd really love to use or that universally people love to use, you'd fill it eventually, but there'd probably be some pretty iffy apps at the end there. We're focused on quality with this thing."

The GamePop strategy was inspired by efforts like Japan's au Smart Pass, which has attracted millions of users by offering a selection of 500 Android games for ¥390 a month (about $4.17). Gargiulo puts the value of the initial lineup of GamePop titles at over $200 if purchased individually on phones.

While BlueStacks isn't discussing precisely what hardware is inside the GamePop, Gargiulo said that the Android 4.2-based system will be "plenty fast for all top games" and capable of running high-end 3D mobile games like Dead Trigger. Players will be able to control those games using their phones through a companion app, letting them use touch and tilt functions as well as the ability to speak into the microphone for games like Talking Tom. Games will also work with an included standard button controller—and eventually with any bluetooth controller through an "open controller" framework.

Developers don't have to put in any porting work to get a game working on the GamePop, Gargiulo said—that's all handled by the BlueStacks team. Developers whose titles are selected will split 50 percent of the subscription fees, apportioned by the actual player usage, so popular games will get a bigger revenue share than unpopular ones. GamePop developers will also be able to make money from in-app purchases directly through the Google Play store, he said.

While the idea of porting mobile games to the TV is not that new anymore, the focus on an all-you-can-play subscription model has the potential to really shake up the way people think about buying console games. We can only hope this effort succeeds and inspires console makers like Microsoft and Sony to try something similar for their next generation of consoles.

If OUYA's launch has taught us anything, is that there are tons of crappy Android games out there.

The last thing i'd ever pay for is access to all of those games.

Also, how does this subscription service handle in App purchases? Does $6.99 a month get me everything in every game always? Or are there still games in the service that will charge in-app purchases on top of hte subscription.

Most mobile games (especially on Android) are free-to-play with (often consumable) DLC. Why would anyone want to pay a subscription to access that? Better yet, how do you play Fruit Ninja on your TV? It only works well because you're directly interacting with the screen.

$7 gets you a lot of mobile games on your phone that you don't have to worry will be 'cycled out' because some company doesn't like them. You can even hook it up/AirPlay it to a TV.

Edit: Okay, I did overlook that owning a phone tends to come with a pretty hefty subscription itself, but then what market is this targeting? People who don't have a phone but would like a subscription to a TV-tethered iPod touch that doesn't play music?

Gargiulo said that the Android 4.2-based system will be "plenty fast for all top games" and capable of running high-end 3D mobile games like Dead Trigger. Players will be able to control those games using their phones through a companion app, letting them use touch and tilt functions as well as the ability to speak into the microphone for games like Talking Tom. Games will also work with an included standard button controller

this sounds awfully convoluted just to play on your tv. for me anyways, it'd be kind of difficult to use a touch screen based control scheme for something i'm looking across the room at. I tend to fat finger my screen alot.

Most mobile games (especially on Android) are free-to-play with (often consumable) DLC. Why would anyone want to pay a subscription to access that? Better yet, how do you play Fruit Ninja on your TV? It only works well because you're directly interacting with the screen.

$7 gets you a lot of mobile games on your phone that you don't have to worry will be 'cycled out' because some company doesn't like them. You can even hook it up/AirPlay it to a TV.

Edit: Okay, I did overlook that owning a phone tends to come with a pretty hefty subscription itself, but then what market is this targeting? People who don't have a phone but would like a subscription to a TV-tethered iPod touch that doesn't play music?

You play Fruit Ninja on your TV by playing it on Kinect.

Good question though, how do you interact with this? Do you use your phone as the controller, but view the results on the TV? Do you have a separate controller for these controller-less games? Does it use Kinect or similar sensors to motion detect?

This... doesn't make sense.How popular is Gametap? Not very. And it has access to numerous games that you can't play for free already.

And Netflix streaming is more popular than its DVD service now I believe. People don't want the hassle of mailing stuff or waiting 2-3 days to get something that they just decided they want to play. On-Demand is where its at.

this whole "bring your phone games to the living room screen" thing is confusing to me. am i only one of a very few who believe that big screens should have big beautiful graphics and controls designed specifically for them (as opposed to adopted later)?

I do not mean this sarcastically but what are these 500 games really going to offer? People play games on their phone cause they are bored, I've never seen a friend hook their phone or tablet up to the t.v. to play the games. Am I missing a whole world of great games? I've played maybe 4 games on my phone for more than 20min. Where are all these hardware developers getting the idea there is a market for this?

This... doesn't make sense.How popular is Gametap? Not very. And it has access to numerous games that you can't play for free already.

And Netflix streaming is more popular than its DVD service now I believe. People don't want the hassle of mailing stuff or waiting 2-3 days to get something that they just decided they want to play. On-Demand is where its at.

I have no idea what you think you are responding to. Maybe you think Gametap is Gamefly? It's not.

Another platform for poor quality android games, I'd be astonished if anyone puts down money for this. Also using your phone to control the screen as it's displayed on your TV is terrible.

Quote:

this whole "bring your phone games to the living room screen" thing is confusing to me. am i only one of a very few who believe that big screens should have big beautiful graphics and controls designed specifically for them (as opposed to adopted later)?

There are a large enough group of gadget fanboys out there who want to unseat the big three consoles and at first glance think this is a good idea but in practice it simply isn't, that's how the Ouya got funded. Games meant to be played in short bursts on a small screen do look terrible on a big TV.

The only one of these to even acknowledge that is the Gamestick device, they at least understand that it's meant to be for brief games sessions.

this whole "bring your phone games to the living room screen" thing is confusing to me. am i only one of a very few who believe that big screens should have big beautiful graphics and controls designed specifically for them (as opposed to adopted later)?

It's the implications.

We are one step closer to having a device that uses your Android phone as a screen for the box that brings Android Apps to your TV.

this whole "bring your phone games to the living room screen" thing is confusing to me. am i only one of a very few who believe that big screens should have big beautiful graphics and controls designed specifically for them (as opposed to adopted later)?

It's the implications.

We are one step closer to having a device that uses your Android phone as a screen for the box that brings Android Apps to your TV.

this whole "bring your phone games to the living room screen" thing is confusing to me. am i only one of a very few who believe that big screens should have big beautiful graphics and controls designed specifically for them (as opposed to adopted later)?

It's the implications.

We are one step closer to having a device that uses your Android phone as a screen for the box that brings Android Apps to your TV.

That video was hilarious, but the only implications i'm getting from this is that these shitty little tap tap time wasters are going to end up on giant tv screens in surround sound instead of in check-out lines where they belong.

Kyle Orland / Kyle is the Senior Gaming Editor at Ars Technica, specializing in video game hardware and software. He has journalism and computer science degrees from University of Maryland. He is based in the Washington, DC area.